As part of my being away from my home like 13 hours a day Mon - Fri and then needing to run errands and just generally get shit done pn the weekends it has become part of my normal life to hire a landscaper to keep my flowerbeds weed free. I plant the flowers, I make them pretty and the landscaper keeps them that way. Around April I had them cut back my butterfly bush. The butterfly bush that was the draw for my Wordless Wednesday photo.

I emailed the landscaper to ask him and his crew to come out, tend the weeds and cut back my weeping cherry tree so it would look more like a weeping cherry and less like Don King. So imagine my initial joy when I came home to weed free flower beds and a weeping cherry that was once again in the shape of a dome. I never know when they're coming so it's always a delightful treat. And THEN I let the dogs out and was face to face with a huge void by the side of my house where my BUTTERFLY BUSH USED TO BE!! It had been cut back to about 12 inches. Normally butterfly bushes don't get cut back until April when first new growth begins to appear.

Now on the one hand, the bush WAS huge and getting out of hand and could have stood a good TRIM back. But they hacked it down to its Spring stub. So I don't know how I feel about this. My husband said that the thing was huge, which, yeah, I know. But it's GONE. Butterflies LOVED that thing and even still yesterday they were on it by the dozens. Now? Gone. I even saw one sad Tiger Swallowtail flying around and I could just hear its little brain saying, "What the FRIG???" It was kinda depressing.

So yeah, I'm not sure how to approach this. I guess the biggest part of me is just like "Whatev." But at the same time, the cutting back of that bush is $40 and I expected about a $30 invoice and it will now be more like $75 - $90. *sigh* Not to mention poor Mr. Tiger Swallowtail...